UNAMSIL helicopter down in Sierra Leone

[Nellis]

A UNAMSIL helicopter carrying 27 people [pax?] crashed this morning in the Kono diamond area while on a scheduled flight. No details are available because at the time of reporting, the crash site had not been reached by a ground party. However, the crash was reported by a local who said he saw the helicopter fall out of the sky, heard a bang and then a column of smoke rising in the air. The crash site has been located because UNAMSIL helicopters were seen orbiting the area.

This is the second UNAMSIL Russian helicopter crash in the past three years.

[Gunship]

:( RIP fellows .. :(

Twenty-four killed in U.N. helicopter crash
From:Reuters
Tuesday, 29 June, 2004

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Twenty-four U.N. staff and others have been killed in a helicopter crash in Sierra Leone, the United Nations says.

The helicopter, leased by the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the West African country, was on an operational flight in the western part of the country on Tuesday.

U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said there were no survivors "in this tragic incident". Three Russian pilots were among the dead, she added.

The helicopter was a Russian Mi-8MTV-1 from the UTair company, which has been involved in U.N. peacekeeping operations from East Timor to Iraq, has been used by the United Nations since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The helicopter took off from the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown but never arrived at its destination in the western city of Kailahun, U.N. sources said. Okabe said it crashed into a hillside in the jungle.

The United Nations has some 11,000 peacekeepers in the U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone, known as UNAMSIL.

[mini]

MI 8 MTV, 26 dead inc 3 Russian crew. craft was leased from Utav.

RIP

[Deanw]

A little bit more background info:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5325078/

U.N. helicopter crashes in Sierra Leone

24, including peacekeepers, aid workers, killed. The Associated Press

Updated: 2:46 p.m. ET June 29, 2004FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - A U.N. helicopter crashed in flames on a remote hillside in Sierra Leone on Tuesday, killing all 24 peacekeepers, aid workers and others on board.

U.N. mission spokeswoman Sharon McPherson said victims aboard the Russian-made Mi-8 also included the Russian crew.

A passenger manifest made available to The Associated Press said the passengers included 14 Pakistani peacekeepers and a Pakistani police officer, and travelers from several African countries.

Others on the manifest were a U.N. volunteer from Ghana, three Sierra Leone citizens, a Tanzanian working for the International Red Cross and one Ugandan.

Authorities offered no immediate explanation for the accident, which left the wreckage in flames on a hillside in the West African country.

The United Nations has about 11,800 peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, overseeing the newly peaceful country's peace accord after a vicious 1991-2002 civil war. Fighting stopped by 2002, and there have been no known attacks on U.N. officials since.

Radio contact lost The helicopter had taken off from the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown with 21 passengers and three crew, said Daniel Adekera, also U.N. spokesman.

The ultimate destination was the western city of Kailahun, after a
stop in Yengama, near some of the main diamond fields in mineral-rich Sierra Leone.

Ground crews lost radio contact, and sent out a search crew within seven minutes, Adekera said.

A farmer near the village of Massabendu Junction, in the area of the crash, told the AP he watched the flight's last seconds.

"I saw this aircraft coming down and it hit a tree and it burst
into flames," said Komba Missa. "I was scared, and I ran into town to tell the police chiefs and others."

The crash site was just southeast of Yengema, U.N. and Sierra Leone aviation officials said.

The wreckage and victims were in remote, hard-to-reach bush area covered in red dirt and thick undergrowth. War has left communities nearby in ruins, with few roofs left on huts.

U.N. recovery teams had to use a second helicopter to reach the area, U.N. associate spokesman Marie Okabe said in New York.

They spotted the wreckage, still in flames more than an hour later, from the air, U.N. officials said.

Clearing a path to the wreckage
After landing and walking 1.5 miles, the searchers reached the crash site. They found no survivors.

Villagers by late in the day were helping clear brush to open a path to the site, Missa said.

Helicopters are the main method of transport cross-country in Sierra Leone, where sound roads are few. The white-painted U.N. helicopters lift off frequently from a helipad in the U.N. missions headquarters in Freetown, ferrying peacekeepers, relief workers and supplies.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's office said the
United Nations had opened an investigation into the crash.

"The secretary-general extends his deep condolences to the
families and governments of those who have perished in this tragedy," a statement released by Annan's office said.

"He once again pays tribute to the men and women who have lost their lives in the name of peace in this and other important peacekeeping operations."

Thirty-one countries have peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, including Britain, the country's former colonial ruler, according to the U.N. mission's Web site.

Bangladesh, Pakistan and West African nations are among the top contributors of troops.

The U.N. Security Council approved the U.N. mission in October 1999. Until Tuesday, a total of 137 U.N. personnel had died in Sierra Leone, including many killed in attacks during fighting.

In 2001, another Mi-8 used by the United Nations crashed in Sierra Leone, killing eight people.

Sierra Leone's war pitted government forces against an insurgency fighting to gain control of the government and of diamond fields.

Forceful military intervention by neighboring Guinea, Britain and the United Nations helped crush the rebels by 2002.

[Nellis]

According to a friend who was at the crash site yesterday afternoon, the helicopter was flying below the cloud in bad weather and flew into the trees. The tail boom broke off and was suspended in the branches, while the fuselage hit the ground approximately 50 metres in the direction of flight. The crew were flung out of the cockpit, but the pax perished in the ensueing fire.

The pilot was right of track which puts him into high ground with thick jungle, trees about 100 - 150 feet high. If he had flown a couple of miles left of track he possibly been able to sneak into Yengema airfield with little problem.

Sierra Leone can be a helicopter pilot's nightmare, there are no nav aids in the interior and because of the lack of electricity, night flying is not easy. Better to simulate night flying over a beer or two. During the dry season, the Harmattan winds blow fine dust from the Sahara and the visibility can be down to 500 metres. It is like flying into a dirty glass bowl, no horizon. If you climb too high visual contact with the ground is lost and because of the lack of beacons in the interior, let downs to isolated villages are not possible, or frightening for those who try the exercise. In the wet season, the torrential rains force a pilot to fly at tree top level in minimal visibility. If the pilot does not have local knowledge, things can become very difficult, and even terminal as in this case.

WAWA:E

[Gunship]

Old man Nellis ...no wonder you have no hair and mine is so :mad: grey ! :E

Remember our worries when we flew there only last week in "much better" conditions. :ugh:

Eischhhh ... no wonder I take leave now (like you did for 6 months last year while it was raining) :p

"Enjoy it" - da Gunship is taking a break :ouch:

Uhmm did our GPS's arrive yet .. if not pse kick but as my mapreading skills are on the limits with these old eyes .. ;)

[andesite]

One of the guys on board was a good friend of mine working for one of the aid organisations.
RIP my friend